


Nightmare

by systems



Category: Free!
Genre: Aftermath, M/M, Police Officer Rin, direct reaction to some art and fic on tumblr, firefighter makoto, orz, warning for nightmare
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-29
Updated: 2015-07-29
Packaged: 2018-04-11 23:02:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4455872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/systems/pseuds/systems
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He shouldn't be here. No one should be here.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nightmare

**Author's Note:**

> This is what usually happens when I encounter angst (especially death) in fandom. I have to write something where no one dies. This is...not as fluffy as normal, though. 
> 
> Short on purpose; also following prompt #9 from [this list](http://systemsforfic.tumblr.com/post/125347609920/send-me-a-pairing-and-a-number-and-ill-write-you).

_He shouldn't be here. **No one** should be here. _

_There's a crackling sound behind the walls. The wooden floor creaks beneath his feet and the hall is dark, but there's a flickering heat behind him. He can hear shouting. It sounds far away. It's outside, several voices at once, some calling and answering. Officers trying to carve order out of chaos. He should be out there._

_There's a reason he's here, if he could only remember, he has to remember._

_There's only one reason for him to run inside a collapsing building._

_Oh, no._

_Icy fingers wrap around his heart and he shivers despite the overwhelming heat._

_"Makoto!"_

  


Rin sits up, gasping for breath. His chest heaving, he blinks frantically against the dark, trying to force his eyes to adjust. Light comes to him in pieces; the faint glimmer that curls around the edges of the blinds, the blinking white light that tells him his phone is charged. The room takes shape in cool shadows that counter the heat still running underneath his skin. 

He knows without looking that Makoto is sleeping beside him. He can feel the warmth, the way the mattress dips and the bedsheet pulls. He's there beside Rin, making small snuffling sounds as he wakes up, reaching out and patting around the bed until he finds Rin's hand.

"'s the matter?" he murmurs.

Rin swallows, forces his heart back out of his throat and into his chest where it belongs. "Don't you ever do that again," he says. It's supposed to be a joke, but his voice is too shaky and the nightmare still too real. 

Makoto curls around Rin, sitting up and pulling him closer in the process. "What'd I do?"

"You became a firefighter," Rin says. 

"Mm." Makoto starts leaving warm kisses across Rin's skin, nuzzling into his neck and shoulder. They're soft presses meant to soothe. "I'm not a firefighter though." 

"I know that," Rin scoffs. "It's just." He feels Makoto pause and tilt his head in question. "I couldn't find you." 

"Sorry," his boyfriend whispers. Rin shakes his head; Makoto has nothing to be sorry for. 

It's almost a relief when the tears come, like a tension has broken. The dreams recede and Makoto holds him through it.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me at systemsforfic on tumblr!


End file.
